


First Meeting

by erbine99



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Wrackspurts can be a big problem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:42:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23287231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erbine99/pseuds/erbine99
Summary: Luna Lovegood went to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic instead of Hogwarts because her father was concerned about Hogwarts' infestation of Wrackspurts. Years later, when Hermione Granger begins her new job as Head Auror, a reporter from The Quibbler comes to interview her.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 1
Kudos: 44





	First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ClayBoolean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClayBoolean/gifts).



> Here's a commission for @Clayboolean - I had a lot of fun with this one.

There were many people in the magical world who had no sense at all, thought Hermione Granger. Chief among these fools were the Lovegood family. Hermione had occasionally read the Quibbler, and while she had appreciated the magazine’s more nuanced portrayal of Harry during the war years, much of it was a load of nonsense. 

Now, in Hermione’s first day as Head Auror, someone - and she would find out exactly who - had given The Quibbler’s lead reporter, Luna Lovegood, an interview with her. It was probably someone’s idea of a joke, a little hazing ritual to put the new leadership through. 

Luna looked just as eccentric as the Quibbler itself. From her oversized earrings depicting some sort of winged magical creature Hermione had never seen (probably something that didn’t exist), to her bright green robes, Luna Lovegood was a sight to behold. She sat waiting outside of Hermione’s new office, quill and papers in hand.

For a moment, Hermione contemplated closing the door to her office and locking herself in there until the woman left. She had so much to do today - her office wasn’t even unpacked yet. Hermione sighed, and decided to make this interview pass as quickly as possible. She stepped through the threshold of her office. Luna spotted her immediately and smiled a spacey grin.

“Miss Lovegood - I hope you know I don’t have much time for an interview,” stated Hermoine curtly. Luna nodded. 

“I can make this brief,” said Luna. She stepped into Hermione’s messy office. 

“Please, sit down.” Hermione gestured to the chair in front of her desk, and then sat down herself. Hermione reached out her hand, and shook Luna’s. Just because a person was strange didn’t mean one shouldn’t be polite. Luna’s handshake was firm and vigorous, and she held it a little too long.

“Congratulations on your promotion,” said Luna. “I suspect you’ll be more effective in dealing with the current wrackspurt infestation of London than your predecessor.” There it was - the nonsense Hermione had expected. Having occasionally read the Quibbler (more out of morbid curiosity than anything) Hermione knew exactly what a wrackspurt was supposed to be. It was a fictional magical creature the Lovegoods believed in, that was supposedly invisible. The things apparently floated into people’s brains and made them unfocused. 

“Thank you, but I’m not planning to focus on controlling fictional creatures during my term as Head Auror.” Hermione winced. She hadn’t meant for that to sound quite so snappy. The Lovegoods, from what she had heard, had never been bad people, and were simply misinformed. She hadn’t intended to insult Luna.

Luna was oblivious to Hermione’s sharp tone. She quirked her head to the side, and smiled a crooked smile. “What other than Wrackspurts can explain the situation at Hogwarts throughout the past decade and a half?” asked Luna.

“What situation?” asked Hermione, bracing herself for more nonsense.  
“During Harry Potter’s years at Hogwarts, those in charge made terribly unwise decisions. From this, we can gather that something impacted the cognition of several adults during those years. Wrackspurts make things fuzzy, you see. I believe that Albus Dumbledore - who had previously been very intelligent - had quite the infestation,” Luna explained. 

For a moment, Hermione was silent, almost shocked. A tiny voice in her head mentioned that Dumbledore had indeed made some wildly strange choices - like never giving Harry the full picture. For one of the smarter men on earth, Albus had made some terrible decisions. Wrackspurts, of course, were not the reason for this - the man had been old enough to have been experiencing some form of cognitive decline - but this wasn’t the complete and utter idiocy Hermione had expected from Luna. 

“I’ll concede that many of Albus’ choices on matters relating to Harry were strange.” said Hermione. “But the cause was more likely to be something like Alzhiemers than Wrackspurts.” Luna’s grey eyes sparkled, and for a moment Hermione had to admit to herself that the woman was rather beautiful.

“Wrackspurts can cause Alzhiemers!” she exclaimed. Hermione resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands. Then, Hermione’s mind began to analyze Luna. Luna wasn’t a madwoman - she was a person who needed explanations for things. Hermione felt that need too, although her own explanations were far less outlandish. Hermione decided to humor Luna, instead of snapping at her again.

“I do think that Alzheimer's in the wizarding world should be studied. Wizards live much longer than muggles. We have more time to cognitively decline, and entirely less research into such things. It’s not exactly my department here at the ministry, but I certainly think it’s something that should be looked into,” Hermione said. Luna beamed at her, writing furiously on her parchment. 

“And what is your opinion on thieving Nargles? Surely as they commit crimes, they’re under your jurisdiction.” Nargles. Hermione almost laughed - she knew what Luna believed these were too. They were supposedly creatures who infested mistletoe and stole things.

“If there were any nargles, they would be an issue. But I see very little mistletoe outside of the winter months - so if they did exist I don’t think they’d be a very big problem.” Hermione thought, again, of what could make a person think like this. There was a problem - objects mysteriously disappearing, that needed an answer. Apparently Luna’s answer was small cantankerous creatures who infested mistletoe. Her belief in these creatures was rather like a religion. And Hermione would never want to make fun of someone’s religion. 

“With mistletoe on the mind - is there anyone in your life right now? I know The Daily Profit has made much of your previous relationship with Ron Weasley - I’d like to congratulate you on your successful divorce.” Oh. Hermione hadn’t expected this conversation to even broach the subject. The Quibbler, for all its faults, was hardly the same kind of gossip rag as the Daily Profit could be. But Luna seemed to be sincerely congratulatory. “Sometimes, getting out of a relationship can be very freeing. I find that it can even clear away Wrackspurts, though I doubt you have much of an infestation at all.”.Hermione tried to parse this conversation. It was hard to tell, but this sounded like… a compliment? 

Marrying Ron had been a mistake, yes. And she was almost deliriously glad to have it all over with, and to be back to focusing on her career rather than her personal life. Although yes, life could be very lonely while one climbed to the top. Hermione found herself looking at Luna’s lips for a moment, and then she shook herself. Was she really so lonely to be contemplating attraction to this woman? Quickly, she spoke to distract herself. “If you have any further questions, please ask them quickly. I have a great deal to do today.” Luna nodded. Somewhere in Luna’s eyes, Hermione saw understanding dawning. Oh no. Had she noticed Hermione looking at her?

“A few final questions, Miss Granger. You’ve been an advocate for the rights of house elves for years - how do you plan to continue this in your new position?,” asked Luna. Hermione smiled. Finally, something she had a good answer to. The thing about the Quibbler, that Hermione actually liked, other than the way the magazine had treated Harry during the war years - was that sometimes, in the midst of all the nonsense, they could do some hard-hitting reporting on the right topics.

“I’m going to be starting a new initiative to separate House Elves from abusive owners. It’s not going to be easy, but we’ll be starting to re-home house elves who face excessive punishment.” Hermione was particularly proud of this initiative - it had been hell to pass in the Wizengamot. She had called in a good number of favors to get it through.

“I really admire that,” Luna said. “Many magical creatures deserve to be better treated than they are now.” Hermione smiled. On this, they could agree. 

“Even Wrackspurts?,” asked Hermione playfully. 

“Even Wrackspurts. It’s not their fault that they do what they do,” replied Luna. “I should let you get back to your job.” Luna stood up and stretched a little, her earrings jingling as she did so. “Perhaps we can do this again sometime.” Hermione nodded. This hadn’t been at all as bad as she had expected. Hermione stood up and opened her office door, and Luna walked out, waving.

Later that day, when she finally had time to organize her desk, Hermione found a piece of parchment on it. Scrawled on it in loopy handwriting was an address, and a note.

If you ever want to talk about anything, off the record - send me an owl. - Luna Lovegood

Hermione knew, in that moment, that Luna had absolutely caught her staring. Just because the girl was a little bit peculiar didn’t mean that she wasn’t sharp as a tack. 

For a moment, she contemplated throwing the paper away and forgetting about it. Then she realized that Luna was without a doubt, the most interesting person she had met in months. Maybe there was a Wrackspurt between her ears, but she was going to take the woman up on her offer. 

She took out parchment, and set a muggle pen (they were far easier to use) to paper.

Dear Luna,

I didn’t expect to enjoy our interview today as much as I did. You are a surprising person. I’d love to have an off-the-record talk sometime, perhaps go more in depth on our new House-Elf program. 

-Hermione Granger, Head Auror.

Hermione sent the message out with her personal owl, Shakespeare. The minute the owl was gone, she began to second-guess herself. Was her letter too formal? Did Luna actually know she was interested, or was Hermione just assuming that Luna had caught her looking. Was Hermione really interested in Luna, or just incredibly lonely post-divorce? 

She didn’t feel quite right until Shakespeare returned with a letter tied to his brown leg. Slowly, she unrolled the parchment.

Dear Hermione,

I admit, I wasn’t sure I’d get any sort of reply from you. I would love to talk sometime - would you like to meet for drinks at the Leaky Cauldron tonight? 

Luna Lovegood. 

Something in Hermione’s stomach leapt as she read. It wasn’t quite a date, but it was something. A night with an interesting, eccentric, and intelligent woman. Who knew where it might lead?


End file.
